News Brief

5:03 am

Thu October 13, 2011

Top Morning Stories October 13, 2011

State park and fire officials are releasing an update this morning on Bastrop State Park, which was burned by wildfires last month.

Photo by KUT News.

Update Today on Bastrop State Park

Later this morning the Texas Forest Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife will give an update on damage assessments and restoration plans for Bastrop State Park. The wildfires last month scorched much of the 6,000-acre park. The Forest Service says many of the trees are still unstable. The park has been closed to the public. KUT's Mose Buchele took a tour last month and took these pictures of the damage.

Four Occupy Austin Protesters Arrested

Austin police say four Occupy Austin demonstrators were arrested early this morning. Officers say they were arrested for criminal trespass after refusing to leave City Hall Plaza after 2:00 a.m. The City of Austin closed the plaza, including the mezzanine area, for clean up between 2:00 and 6:00 a.m. A city notice says this early morning closure will continue daily.

Occupy Austin is a movement in conjunction with Occupy Wall Street in New York. People are protesting what they call a broken economic and political system in the U.S. It formally launched in Austin last Thursday.

Texas Political Leaders Weighing in on Terror Plot

An Austin congressman says the arrest of a man who used to live in Round Rock in an alleged assassination plot raises serious questions about border security in Texas.

Manssor Arbabsiar is accused of trying to hire members of a Mexican drug cartel to kill Saudi Arabia’s U.S. ambassador.

“This connection now between terrorists in the Middle East and the drug cartels, I think, is a bit of a game changer, it’s an eye-opener,” Congressman Michael McCaul, R-Austin, told KUT. “And it’s something we need to examine and respond to.” You can read the rest of McCaul's statement here.

Governor Rick Perry is also repeating his calls for more troops and surveillance along the border.